Game of Humans
by DeadLord
Summary: Post DH. EWE. No slash. After dying at the end of Book 7, Harry Potter is invited to play a game. A game, where he is the main character. Video Game fic. Gamer!Harry. Game mechanics to be loosely similar to World of Warcraft.
1. Meeting Death!

**Game of Humans**

Chapter 1: Meeting Death!

Disclaimer - Harry Potter, other characters and situations are owned by J.K. Rowling and her licensees. This is a work of fan fiction, produced solely for enjoyment. No infringement of rights is intended.

Summary – Post DH. EWE. No slash. After dying at the end of Book 7, Harry Potter is invited to play a game. A game, where he is the main character. Video Game fic. Gamer!Harry.

Pairings – This story will have pairings. All suggestions are welcome. No slash request please. Personally, I am leaning towards HP/DG/FD.

* * *

 **Chapter 1 – Meeting Death!**

Harry Potter took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and looked as calmly as he could at Tom Riddle, self-styled Lord Voldemort.

"Avada Kedavra" Riddle snarled. The jet of green light rushed forwards, and Harry knew no more.

When Harry regained his senses, he saw that he was in a small room that was in a word – plain. There was nothing remarkable about it. It was sparsely furnished with just a small table, two chairs and to Harry's surprise, a TV with some kind of Gaming console attached to it. A bean-bag was placed in front of the TV.

"Welcome, Harry Potter", Harry jumped a bit at the unexpected greeting. A man dressed in a plain black cloak with a hood covering his face, was seated in one of the chairs. The man gestured for Harry to take the remaining chair, but Harry ignored him.

"Who are you? Where am I? and What do you want?", Harry questioned in rapid succession while trying to draw his wand. He suddenly realized that he didn't have it and was completely defenseless in an unknown place with an unknown person. 'Just my luck', thought Harry.

"Please have a seat. I will endeavor to answer all your questions. I am known by many names, but you may know me as Death", hearing this Harry gulped and promptly sat down, not wanting to anger Death unnecessarily. "You are presently in my domain, where humans arrive after they die to be judged. If they were Good in their life, they are reborn on earth as someone else. If they were Evil, they seize to exist."

"What about an After-life? Heaven and Hell? Does this mean that I won't be able to meet my parents again?", Harry asked, feeling angry and disappointed.

"There is no such thing as after-life or Heaven and Hell, Harry. Those are things that have be propagated by Humans without any basis. Yes, as your parents were Good people, they have been reborn as different individuals on Earth. Even if you had met them, they would not seem like your parents as their souls are completely erased before being reborn." answered Death.

"Is that what is going to happen to me? Am I going to be reborn now that my previous life is over?", Harry inquired, still processing the information supplied by the mysterious entity, Death.

"No, for you we have decided something new. You see Harry, this universe was created a long time ago by six supernatural entities – Fate, Time, Nature, Good, Evil and me, Death. We created everything in it, Humans, animals, plants, everything. But soon we became bored and watching Humans became our source of entertainment. But as Fate always knew what was going to happen, she decided to create a mechanism that will decide the future without her knowledge. Now, we have got bored with it as well, so we all decided to try something new.", explained Death.

"What! Is that all I am to you guys? A form of entertainment. So all of my life, all of my sufferings were just for your entertainment!", Harry was getting extremely annoyed as Death started explaining. By the end of it, he was ready to explode. 'What do they think of themselves? Have I suffered everything, just to amuse some old people who have nothing better to do?' Harry was nearing the end of his patience and continued to glare at Death.

"Don't get me wrong Harry, as I explained we don't decide your future anymore. Everything is pre-written. And not just you Harry, every Human is a source of entertainment for us. Is it so wrong? Isn't it same in humans as well? Children are always a source of entertainment for their parents. And as the creators, all humans are like our children.", clarified Death in a very calm manner.

Seeing that Harry was still looking annoyed, Death continued, "We all agree that you have faced numerous hardships through your life, and yet managed to remain true to your ideals and morals. Taking this into consideration, we wish to grant you a boon."

"What boon?", asked Harry, managing to calm down a bit.

Death elaborated, "We will allow you to determine your own destiny. As soon as you are reborn in a specific time in the past, you can decide what you want to do. From that moment on wards, nothing will be pre-written regarding your life. Your actions will determine your course. This has never been done before Harry. This will be the first time, that a human is deciding his own fate."

'That does sound good. I can go back and change things, I can save Sirius, Cedric and everyone who did in the war. Plus it is not like I have any other options. Starting a new life as someone else without my current knowledge is a very scary prospect.', mused Harry as he considered Death's offer.

"Okay, I accept your boon, how do we get started?", Harry asked.

"Excellent! As for getting started, all you have to do is play a Game!", smiled Death.

"WHAT!"

* * *

Author's Note –

I am willing to freely admit that my English is not the best out there. Though I think it is sufficient to get my point across. This fic will feature Harry playing a video game centered around his life. The game mechanics are based on those of World of Warcraft. The entire story will be set in the Harry Potter-verse, without any crossovers.

Reviews are greatly appreciated. Don't mind flames as well, so long as they are about the story and not the English.


	2. New Game!

**Game of Humans**

Chapter 2: New Game!

Disclaimer - Harry Potter, other characters and situations are owned by J.K. Rowling and her licensees. This is a work of fan fiction, produced solely for enjoyment. No infringement of rights is intended.

Summary – Post DH. EWE. No slash. After dying at the end of Book 7, Harry Potter is invited to play a game. A game, where he is the main character. Video Game fic. Gamer!Harry.

Pairings – This story will have pairings. All suggestions are welcome. No slash request please. Personally, I am leaning towards HP/DG/FD.

* * *

 **Chapter 2 – New Game!**

After Harry's loud exclamation, Death had explained that the game is how the six supernatural entities watched the world and controlled it from time to time.

"But it's just a game! It's not real", half exclaimed, half asked Harry.

"Yes it is a game. But that does not mean that it is not real Harry. It is as real as you and me!", grinned Death. "Well! It is time for you to get started young Harry."

"Wait! What happens if I die again?", asked Harry.

"Well, you will be automatically reborn in your room, before you accepted the quest in which you were killed. If you complete the game, then you have the option of replaying it as many times as you want. And finally, if you get bored with it, you can quit the game, and I will then reincarnate you as someone else on the earth.", with that explanation, Death gave harry a wave and disappeared.

"Wait!" exclaimed Harry again but by that time Death was gone. 'What an ass!', thought Harry. 'Let's see what we have here.' With that Harry walked to the TV and flopped himself down on the bean-bag.

First thing that Harry noticed was that the TV screen was no longer dark. It now read,

 **Welcome Harry Potter**

 **To**

 **The Game of Humans!**

 **New Game**

 **Continue Game**

 **Settings**

 **Quit Game**

'Well, better get started', thought Harry. But then he realized that there was no remote to control the game. 'Maybe it's voice activated. Hmm, let's see, the New Game and Quit Game are self –explanatory, Continue Game has been greyed out, so it looks like it is not available at the moment. So let's start with Setting.' Saying Settings out-loud, the screen changed to display different options than before. Now it read

 **Difficulty: Easy – Normal – Hard – Insane.**

 **Tutorial: Disabled – Enabled**

 **HUD: Disabled – Enabled**

 **Hints: Disabled – Enabled**

 **Auto-Save: Disabled – Enabled**

 **In-Game Menus: Disabled – Enabled**

 **Permadeath: Disabled – Enabled**

 **Back**

Looking at the menu, Harry quickly enabled everything except Permadeath, which he disabled. When Harry tried to select Easy difficulty, a small pop-up announced that easy difficulty was only available after completing the game on Hard or Insane difficulty. Left with no choice, Harry selected Normal difficulty. Going Back to the Title Screen, Harry selected, New Game!

The next screen asked Harry to select a starting character. Scrolling down the list, Harry saw hundreds of names from the Wizarding world, divided according to their races i.e. Humans, Goblins, Werewolves, Vampires Veela, etc. Both male and female characters made up the list. All the names except his own were greyed out. A small information box at the bottom of the screen told Harry that new characters will become available after Harry completes the Game at least once. Selecting his own name, Harry moved on to the next page.

The next menu asked Harry to select the starting year. 'It looks like the game can be started from any year between 1970 to 1997. But it looks like all years except 1994 to 1997 are greyed out for now', thought Harry. The information box again explained that Harry would be able to start earlier when he completes the game. It also mentioned that the starting date would always be 31st July. 'Well, it's good that I can start earlier once I finish this game this time. Maybe next time I can try to save my parents as well', Harry thought happily. He was quite happy that he had a chance to save everyone.

Moving on to the next screen, Harry was asked to customize his character appearance. Things like Sex, Hair, Color, skin, facial features, etc. were available to be changed. Being comfortable with his own looks, Harry just opted to change his eyes a bit so that he didn't require glasses. When Harry tried to increase his Height and Weight, a pop-up informed him that due to malnutrition in his early life, these changes were not allowed. 'Just my luck! Hopefully, I can use some potions in-game to correct this', sighed Harry.

On the next page, Harry was greeted with a message saying that the character customization was complete. It asked if he was ready to start the Game. "Here goes nothing", Harry blew out air and started the Game. Harry felt a sensation similar to apparition. Next thing he knew; Harry was in his bed room at Privet Drive. A pop-up box hovered in-front of him. 'Welcome to the Game of Humans, Harry Potter.'

* * *

Author's Note –

Reviews are greatly appreciated. Don't mind flames as well, so long as they are about the story and not the English.


	3. Starting Out

**Game of Humans**

Chapter 3: Starting Out

Disclaimer - Harry Potter, other characters and situations are owned by J.K. Rowling and her licensees. This is a work of fan fiction, produced solely for enjoyment. No infringement of rights is intended.

Summary – Post DH. EWE. No slash. After dying at the end of Book 7, Harry Potter is invited to play a game. A game, where he is the main character. Video Game fic. Gamer!Harry.

Pairings – This story will have pairings. All suggestions are welcome. No slash request please. Personally, I am leaning towards HP/DG/FD.

* * *

 **Chapter 3 – Starting Out**

The pop-up/ Hint Box informed Harry, 'Welcome Harry Potter to the Game of Humans! Pause Menu may be accessed at any time by saying Pause out loud.' With that the box disappeared. 'So this is what HUD means', thought Harry. Various icons hovered in front of Harry's vision. All the icons were translucent. At the top left hand corner Harry could see his Name and image with two completely filled bars colored in Green and Blue. The Green Bar had the text **'HP: 500/500'** overlaid on it while the Blue bar said **'Mana: 945/945.'**

'As far as I can remember from watching Dudley play his video games, HP means Hit points i.e. my health, while Mana represents the energy used to cast spells, in this case Magic', thought Harry to himself. 'At least both the bars are full. The numbers seem okay, but I will have to look at other people to see where I stand.'

The top right corner of his vision was filled with a small circular map with a compass indicating North surrounding the map. At the bottom right corner of his HUD, there were five slots, of which, the first one had the image of his school trunk.

As soon as Harry finished this observation, another Hint appeared on the HUD. 'Certain Commands when voiced out loud enable the character to access different menus. Examples of commands are Character Sheet, Map and Inventory.'

'Let's give it a try', thought Harry and called out the first command "Character Sheet"

A new page opened in front of Harry's eyes, at the top was his name – Harry Potter. Just below it was **– Level 7 Human Wizard.** The rest of the page was divided into two sections. The left hand side was dominated by his image. Around his image were different slots named **– Cloak, Shirt, Gloves, Belt, Pants, Shoes, Ring, Ring, Wand and Weapon.** Most of these slots were empty with only the slots for shirt, pant, belt, shoes and wand being filled with the images of his present clothes. When harry tried moving his fingers over his wand slot, a pop-up appeared –

 **Holly and Phoenix Wand**

 **Quality: Epic**

 **Item Level 66**

 **+24 Stamina**

 **+25 Intellect**

'Wow level 66! Looks like Ollivander really gave me a good wand', thought Harry. Looking at his other clothes, Harry saw that their quality was poor with levels between 1-5 and they hardly gave any extra stats, mostly zeros and ones. 'What else can I expect from my caring relatives', Harry thought sarcastically.

The right hand side of the page was filled with information on his stats –

 **\- General**

 **Health – 500**

 **Mana – 945**

 **\- Attributes**

 **Stamina – 26**

 **Strength – 26**

 **Agility – 26**

 **Intellect – 38**

'That's nice. But what these attributes do? How do they affect me?', Harry asked out loud, hoping to get some answer. In response, the Hint Box appeared –

 **Health represents the overall health of the character. Reaching a Health of 0 causes the death of the character. Health can be regained slowly when the character is not engaged in a fight. Similarly, Health can also be regained by consuming certain Potions, food, drinks as well as sleeping. Health is dependent on the Stamina Attribute. Leveling up the character also refills Health as well as increases it by small amounts.**

 **Mana represents the Magic of the Character. Reaching a Mana of 0 causes magical exhaustion. In such a state, the character is unable to perform any more magic. Mana is regenerated continuously. Mana as well as Mana regeneration rate is dependent on the Intellect Attribute. Similar to Health, Mana can also be regained by consuming certain Potions, food, drinks as well as sleeping. Leveling up the character also refills Mana as well as increases it by small amounts.**

 **Stamina attribute affects the overall health of the character. Higher the stamina of the character, higher will be his Hit Points. Stamina also affects physical activities like running, dodging, jumping, swimming, etc.**

 **Strength attribute affects the physical strength and the attack power with melee weapons of the character without his magic. Activities like Unarmed Combat, Sword Fighting, etc. are dependent on the Strength attribute.**

 **Agility attribute affects the dexterity as well as the attack power of ranged weapons of the character without his magic. Activities like Dodging, swimming as well as weapons like Bow-arrow, Guns, etc. depend on this attribute.**

 **Intellect attribute affects the spell power and mana of the wizard. Higher the intellect more magic is available to the character. Intellect also helps in mana regeneration. The strength and power of various spells is also affected by the character's intellect.**

 **Equipped items may provide the character with bonus attributes. Items cannot be leveled–up as characters. Item quality can be categorized as – Poor, Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary.**

'Finally some useful information. Okay, so intellect seems the most important right now as it will help me with my magic. I should also increase my stamina so as to increase my health. Strength would be something to look at a bit later. Agility, I don't know, seems it's not that important for me, but then again it affects dodging, which I really need in magical duels.', mused Harry as he thought about all the information provided.

At the bottom of the page, there was another tab – **Reputation.** Saying it out loud, Harry's view changed.

As soon as the reputation tab opened, the Hint Box appeared again –

 **The Character can gain or lose favor, otherwise known as reputation, with many of the several different groups or individuals in this world by completing certain quests or killing certain creatures. Doing so will usually unlock special rewards or new quests to accomplish. Reputations may be categorized as – Hated, Hostile, Unfriendly, Neutral, Friendly, Honored, Revered, Exalted. Individuals in a romantic relationship will have different positive reputations – Friendly, Crush, In Love, Devoted.**

'Well. Let's see what I have managed to do in my life till now.' Thought Harry. At the start of the page were four Groups –

 **Muggle World – Neutral**

 **Wizarding World – Friendly**

 **Ministry of Magic – Friendly**

 **Death Eaters – Hated**

'This is okay. This is what I expected. Though to classify the entire Wizarding World as friendly; must be due to the Boy-Who-Lived thing.' Pondered Harry. After the groups were individual names of the people that Harry had met till now in his life. All the reputations were as expected. There were some surprises like, the Dursleys' were Hostile instead of Hated as Harry was expecting. Hermione was Revered while Ron had a reputation of just Friendly. 'Looks like Hermione is much more comfortable with me than Ron. Maybe it's because of his jealousy. I will have to keep an eye on it', mused Harry.

With a command of Back, the Character menu disappeared. Similarly, harry also tried out the **Map** and the **Inventory** commands. The map command opened a map of his surrounding areas, it was like a Marauder's Map of his immediate vicinity. The map extended around 200 meters in all directions around Harry. The inventory command opened up a new menu. Harry was informed that he can equip up to five bags or trunks at any given time. Each trunk or Bag had different capacities according to their levels. He also found out that, once equipped he could access any item stored in any bag, irrespective of where the actual bag was stored.

'Hmm, that seems everything on the HUD at the moment', with that thought Harry got up from the bed where he was sitting and walked around his room. Everything was same as how he remembered. Looking at the mirror, Harry noticed for the first time that he was not wearing glasses, and yet he could see everything clearly. He also noticed that he was a bit taller and bulkier than he remembered being before his Fourth year, but not by much. 'Well some improvement is always better than none', smiled Harry.

* * *

Author's Note –

Reviews are greatly appreciated. Don't mind flames as well, so long as they are about the story and not the English.


	4. Quests!

**Game of Humans**

Chapter 4: Quests!

Disclaimer - Harry Potter, other characters and situations are owned by J.K. Rowling and her licensees. This is a work of fan fiction, produced solely for enjoyment. No infringement of rights is intended.

Summary – Post DH. EWE. No slash. After dying at the end of Book 7, Harry Potter is invited to play a game. A game, where he is the main character. Video Game fic. Gamer!Harry.

Pairings – This story will have pairings. All suggestions are welcome. No slash request please. Personally, I am leaning towards HP/DG/FD.

 **Chapter 4 – Quests!**

"Hoot"

The sound of hooting drew Harry's attention to his most loyal friend. Hedwig was same as he remembered her. Her amber eyes gazed at him with a kind of questioning look in them. Harry moved towards her cage and started patting her on her head and under her beak.

"It's good to see you again girl. I have really missed you over the last year", Harry said softly. He noticed floating text on top of Hedwig's head.

 **Hedwig**

 **Harry's Pet**

 **Common Pet**

 **Level 7**

 **Health: 200/200**

The hint box appeared again –

 **-Pet Discovered**

 **-Pet menu unlocked**

 **Pets are companions to characters. Pets can be used for various purposes. Some pets may be assigned tasks like delivering mail, etc. while some pets are able to help their master's in fights. Such pets are called Battle Pets and have their own attributes and may also have some magical attacks. Taming of Higher level animals requires certain skill in [Beast mastery].**

 **-Skill Discovered – [Beast mastery]**

 **-Skill Level – 11/100**

'Well, that's interesting. It would be cool to have such a battle pet', mused Harry. As if reading his thoughts Hedwig pecked his hand, looking quite indignant. Chuckling quietly Harry replied, "I didn't mean that having you is not cool Hedwig. But things like fighting are beneath you, girl, A majestic owl like you should not involve herself with these things." Hearing this Hedwig puffed-up and preened her feathers while Harry chuckled softly at his pet's vanity.

Crisis averted, Harry decided to step out and have a look around at all the changes. Leaving his room Harry proceeded down to the Living room. Vernon Dursley was sitting on the couch reading a newspaper. As with Hedwig text hovered over his head.

 **Vernon Dursley**

 **Human Muggle**

 **Level 30**

 **Health: 1200/1200**

In addition to the text, a Yellow Exclamation Mark floated above the text. The helpful pop-up appeared again –

 **-Quests Discovered**

 **Quests provide the character with various missions that may or may not be related to the main plot. Each quest has a fixed reward associated with it. The player may collect the reward after successfully completing the entire quest. A quest may be accessed by talking to the quest giver. The player may accept or reject quests. Accepted quests can be reviewed using the quest menu by saying the command 'Quest'. A player may cancel any active quest from this menu before its completion. Cancelled quest may be re-accepted by talking to the same quest giver again. Quests can be of different types. Types of quests can be distinguished using the colour of the exclamation mark as follows**

 **Red – Story Quest**

 **Yellow – Side Quest**

 **Blue – Repeatable Quest**

 **Pink – Romantic Quest**

 **All other quests except the Story Quests are optional. Story Quests are essential for the plot to move forward. The player may attempt these quest any time after it appears. But the plot will not move forward until the player completes any available Story Quest.**

'What does it mean that the plot will not move forward before I complete the story quests? Does it mean that time will stop? I will have to see what happens if I ignore these quests', pondered Harry.

Saying Quest out loud, Harry was greeted with a new panel. The left hand side it seems listed all the active quests while the right hand side gave quest description. Only one quest was currently displayed. **Kill Lord Voldemort.** The right hand side had the name of the quest again at the top followed by **0/1 Lord Voldemort Slain.** Below it was a description illustrating that due to the prophesy given by Trelawney, Harry Potter was tasked with killing Voldemort. It also went on to briefly describe interactions between Harry and Voldemort till date.

'Hmm, it seems there is no turning back from this prophesy', thought Harry when he saw that the Abandon Quest button was greyed out. 'Maybe, next time around, I can start the game before the prophesy is given'

'Let's see what these quests are all about. I wonder what kind of quest will Vernon give me', thinking this Harry moved towards his uncle. As soon as Harry reached Vernon, he looked up from his paper and ordered, "Boy, go prepare breakfast for everyone."

A new pop-up appeared in-front of Harry similar to the Quest menu –

 **Prepare Breakfast**

 **-0/3 Breakfast prepared.**

 **Required –**

 **[Cooking] – Level 15**

 **Cooking Recipe – English Breakfast**

 **Reward –**

 **[Cooking] +1**

 **Experience - +10**

 **Money - £2**

 **Accept Quest? – Yes/No**

'I don't know if I have the required skills as per the game, but I sure remember being able to prepare simple Breakfast from before. I really find it hard to believe that my Uncle will pay me to cook for them. Hmm, must be Game Mechanics. Let's see how this quest works. Also, I seriously need to find out what skills I have presently', thinking this, Harry accepted the quest.

Thinking that maybe the skills are listed on his character page, Harry opened it again. Sure enough, there were three new tabs had appeared there. In addition to Character Sheet and Reputation, Harry now also saw **Pets, Skills** and **Currency.**

Moving to the skills page, Harry saw that all of Harry's Hogwarts classes were listed as skills except Care had been replaced with Beast Mastery. Most of them were at level **11/100** with a few exceptions like DADA being at **15/100**. In addition to the classes there were also other magic skills like Runes, Arithmancy, Occlumency, Legilimency, Soul magic, etc. All of these were at **0/100**. In addition, there were other skills, like Cooking which was at **20/100** , Flying which was at **87/100** as well as Swimming, Apparition, Portkey, Flooing, etc. which were mostly at **0/100.**

'Damn! I had hoped that my skills from my previous life would have been carried forward, but it looks like I will have to learn them all over again,' thought Harry. Opening the Currency tab, Harry saw that there were presently two entries in it.

 **Pound £ 2**

 **Galleon ₲ 10**

A small information box at the bottom of the page informed Harry that the money from his Gringotts' Vault will only be accessible after he visits the bank at least once after starting a new game. It also told him that player may access any amount that is available to him at any time, even if the money is stored in the Vault. Harry could also convert Pounds to Galleons directly using the Currency Menu. The Pet menu just had Hedwig for now with her species and level mentioned.

Entering the kitchen and taking out the pan, Harry was greeted with another menu. This had a list of recipes on the left side as well as what seems like list of recipes that he knew how to prepare on the right side. Selecting the English breakfast one, Harry saw the list of ingredients at the bottom. Selecting the ingredients from the fridge, the ingredients disappeared from his hands while text popped up in front of him saying Items added to inventory. Opening his inventory, sure enough, Harry saw the ingredients neatly stacked indifferent slots. Going back to the cooking menu, Harry selected quantity of 3 and called out Create. In response, a Progress Bar appeared in front of him that quickly filled up three times and three breakfasts appeared on the dining table.

Going out towards Vernon, Harry saw that the yellow exclamation mark above his Uncle had been replaced by a Yellow Question mark. As soon as, Harry told his Uncle that the Breakfast was ready, a pop-up appeared telling him that the quest had been completed. Harry also received the quest Rewards at this time.

'Aah! so that's how quests work,' mused Harry.

Author's Note –

I have a question for the Readers. Till now I have been explaining the Game mechanics in detail. Moving forward, I was thinking of just expanding the plot while not fully explaining the game mechanics each time.

I would like to know if the readers, would like me to keep writing the game mechanics in detail or should I just stick to writing the plot while only explaining the mechanics where relevant. If you choose the second option then I will stick to writing more about the plot, while I will write how much each skill has increased or how much points Harry has for each abilities, it won't be the main focus of the story.

Waiting for your replies.

Reviews are greatly appreciated. Don't mind flames as well, so long as they are about the story and not the English.


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